Down Syndrome Stigma

A mental Illness refers to a wide range of mental health conditions — disorders that affect your mood, thinking and behavior. Downs syndrome is a congenital disorder arising from a chromosome defect, causing intellectual impairment and physical abnormalities including short stature and a broad facial profile. It arises from a defect involving chromosome 21. Down syndrome is random and it can affect anyone. There is no cure and no precautionary steps. Down syndrome affects millions of people each year. With research we can find new ways to treat this disease and help the ones who are affected.

. Down syndrome is not a disease that someone catches and is not caused by difficulties during the pregnancy, it is a genetic condition. This condition is caused by the presence of an extra chromosome in the body’s cells and causes a redundant amount of proteins to be formed. All cells of the body derive from a single cell formed by the fusion of a father’s sperm and a mother’s egg. Each cell carries a nucleus full of genetic material known as genes. These genes are inherited from both the mother and father. Each cell normally contains 46 pairs of chromosomes. 23 chromosomes come from one parent and 23 from the other, hence the 46 pairs. When it comes to children with down syndrome, one of the chromosomes does not separate properly and so the

Kristen Isgro highlights the challenges that the mothers and caregivers go through on a daily basis. Three groups of women, ages ranging from 33 to 66 and all having a child with Down syndrome, discussing the issues such as how they advocate for their children. They also discuss what they have learned from experience dealing with health care providers and educators, and deal with how their children are viewed in different settings.

Many would choose to argue that those who have a certain mental illness or learning disability are not considered a special needs child. These people only consider those who may have physical abnormalities to be special needs. Because many think this way, they may not want to help the special needs community because they are afraid of it being “awkward”. “About 70 percent of babies prenatally diagnosed with Down Syndrome are aborted.” says Becker, Writer and mother of a daughter with Down Syndrome (Garrison). Many people choose not to be involved with special needs because they don’t want to be put in that situation or won’t know how to interact with them.

For the purpose of this assignment, this section of the paper will critically reflect and analyze the portrayal of people with Down Syndrome in mass media. I chose to specifically evaluate CBC New’s portrayal because it is one of our greatest sources of news in British Columbia. This section will look into several of CBC’s most recent news stories that are about people with down syndrome and the adversity they face. We will see that there is a common trend towards advocating for these people as well as trying to rid Down Syndrome from being seen as a disability.

I. Attention Getter: Approximately one in every 700 babies in the United States is born with Down syndrome, that makes approximately 6000 babies born each year with Down syndrome. Although physical and cognitive traits are affected by this genetic disorder, individuals can attend school, work, participate in decisions that affect them, have meaningful relationships, vote and contribute to society in many wonderful ways. II. Thesis: Down syndrome is the most common genetic disorder in the United States and it accounts for much of the learning disabilities found in children today (Staff 2014).

The concept of desirability has divided society in two groups. One group has been categorized as the higher- achiever and the other group as the low-achievers. This comparison has been embedded into society for so many years. During the 50’s it was used to protect white middle-class students. Today is mostly used to described people who have mental or physical impairments. Sleeter and Longmore researched how the concept of disability has had a negative development through the US society.

When I was in sixth grade I went to a co-op called classical conversations. Every week one family would give a presentation. When the week of my families’ presentation came, we decide to talk about what Downs syndrome was. One of the things we talked about in our presentation was how people with Down syndrome have a tough time talking. This because when they try to talk it is like talking with a marshmallow in your mouth. Then we called up some volunteers to try to talk with a marshmallow in their mouth, when they tried this they had little success in talking. This isn’t just some silly story that for most of you may be insignificant. However, by dong this and showing to these people the things that they and even you think are obstacles like a broken nail or not getting the right color iPhone is what, is really

On September 10, 2011, Gilberto Powell, a Down syndrome man, was walking home from his friend's house, less than one block away from his own home, when he was stopped by two Miami-Dade police officers. The officers had stopped him due to their suspicion that Powell had a weapon on him. What the two officers believed to be a weapon was simply a colostomy bag that Gilberto wore on his waist. The officers tried to do a pat-down search of the 22-year-old man. Gilberto became frightened by the two officers and pushed off the car in an attempt to flee to his home. Police say that they gave multiple commands for him to stop moving, when he fell on the ground and hit his head. He still tried to escape by hitting one of the officers in the chest. The officer then struck Gilberto in the face with an open hand in an attempt to subdue him. He was then handcuffed. The officers then forcibly removed the colostomy bag.

The nucleus, commonly known as the brain, is the command center of eukaryotic cells. This membrane bound organelle carries information and instructions, in the form of DNA packed into chromatin, for growth, development, and reproduction to all other organelles. The nucleus oversees the all activities in the cell. Without a nucleus, the organelles of the cell would not know what to do.

Josko (2014) asserts that the era of personalized medicine is upon us, and that with the completion of the Human Genome Project, and advances in DNA sequencing techniques and

Where the verbal communication is equally significant for children's social development similarly it makes them capable to interact with their social world and to manage their behavior. When the children learn language, they can inquire for what they want, give details how they sense, illustrate what they have been doing and share thoughts and worries with friends. Children are clever to instigate and manage their behaviors by means of silent speech to teach them and to prepare their actions. The more parents can facilitate their children with Down syndrome to trained to talk, the faster they will improved in all areas of cognitive and social development. Nobody can live in isolation and it is the fact of the social life that people have to interact with each other meet their needs on daily basis. To normalize the life of a down syndrome, it is essential to

First and foremost, the NDSS is resourceful. They offer a variety of groups and events to help those with Downs and their families. Every year, the National Down Syndrome Congress has a convention for people who are interested in staying active in the world of Down syndrome. For example, a few summers ago there was a session in Boston, and the number of people in attendance is astonishing.. “These popular sessions, facilitated by family members, are informal opportunities to meet your peers and share your joys, concerns and strategies with others” (General Convention). People are

Down Syndrome (Trisomy 21) is the most common chromosomal disorder that copies an extra part or complete set of the 21st chromosome. Children born with this genetic disorder have a very challenging way of life compared to regular children. About 1 in 1,000 babies born with mothers under 30 years of age tend to be diagnosed with Down syndrome. With this disorder, people have a life expectancy of 47 years, compared to the average human life expectancy rate in the U.S., which is 78 years. A specific racial group affected by this disorder is African Americans. African Americans born with down syndrome have a less chance of surviving their first year of life compared to white children with Down syndrome.

During my grandmother’s pregnancy, she found out that her lovely daughter would be diagnosed with Down syndrome (DS). This news released a fear within my family. During this time in India, when children were born special, they were not treated well. They would get hit and abused and would not feel loved. Many people in the town or cities would not let special children into restaurants or to even look at them. Fortunately, my aunt was one of the few children who was loved and nurtured. She grew up with two loving brothers and two amazing parents. During her young ages while she was growing up, the doctors in India predicted that she would only live up to age 11. This struck a nerve